The Sole Daughter
by TheLooneyBin
Summary: A post Fallout 4 fanfiction about the synthetically created daughter of the Sole Survivor and Piper. Without the knowledge of her mothers former life she follows in the footsteps of the legends of the sole survivor, along the way, she may have to overcome a few different adversities though...
1. Prologue

It all started with a single word. And then it escalated to something much more. It escalated to yelling and screaming, terrifying arguments of monumental scale. Eventually it led to fear in the people, and the governments, and the soldiers. Peace was over, and then came war. Though true the war lasted a total of two hours. The world lashed out at each other with the same nuclear power that had sustained us for so long, a power that we had not unleashed since the year 1945. The entire world was crippled by this power so quickly that the people barely had time to react. They were shoved into vaults and put under terrible experiments set forth by Vault-Tec, an assumed hero to the people turned the greater of some evils. I was subject to one of these cruel experiments. I was frozen in a box for over 210 years and then released into the wasteland. I now called this wasteland home, with some amazing friends to boot, and some much more than that.

It had been two weeks since the threat of the institute had been demolished, all thanks to me, the minutemen, and a very tenacious reporter. Some liked the idea, the symbolism, of having the minutemen at my side, some were a bit offended, and others were completely indifferent. Honestly I didn't care who it was by my side as long as Piper was. And now, two weeks later, at the Red Rocket Truck Stop I call home, we finally got around to a celebration.

Outside of the station, to the left of the building, we were all seated around a bonfire, crackling and spitting sparks out as if angry for being set ablaze. We had some of the corn and tatos that were growing not 20 yards away thrown into a pot and set above the flames. Dogmeat was lain at my right, beside the log I was seated on, and Piper was on my left, laughing at one of Preston's old stories that always got a laugh.

"I'll be right back." I whispered to Piper, patting her shoulder and standing.

She nodded and Dogmeat raised his head from his paw, whimpering curiously.

"Stay here boy, I'll be right back." I said with a smile, scratching his ears.

He seemed satisfied and rested his head on his paws once more. Walking into the building and closing the door behind me, I continued through the garage, letting my hand glide smoothly over the surface of the X-01 Power Armor that I called my own. I let my hand fall before walking out of the garage and up the small incline to a large shack I'd built before stepping up the old, creaking wooden stairs and opening the door. I raised the lever on my right, the lights flickering on and showing my impressive collection of power armors. I had 8 exoskeletons now, 2 of which were brotherhood of steel standard issue T-60s. 5 of the others were made of mismatched armor I'd found, ranging from Raider Mk.1 and 2, all the way up to refined T-51 and T-60 bits. I smiled to myself and grabbed the gloves off of the hook they hung from, slipping them on and opening the large metal trunk on my right. I grabbed a T-51 I'd found during my scavenging ventures and dusted it off, chewing my inner cheek to the sight of some minor damages. I glanced to the last exoskeleton in the row, which was exactly that, an exoskeleton. I lugged the helmet over to it and fixated it to the shoulders.

I stepped back and noticed how a dent here and a dent there lopsided the piece and made it look a bit worse for wear. I was itching to fix it so I took it off and was taking it back out to the Power Armor Station in the garage before a light-hearted bostonian accent stopped her.

"Thought I might find you out here, dollface." came the voice.

I didn't need to look to see who it was, I simply smiled as I rounded the corner, meeting Piper's eyes in the doorway. I shifted the helmet's weight in my hands and gave a soft greeting.

"Hey Piper."

"Hey there works-a-lot. Come on Blue! You gotta come celebrate with us!"

I chuckled, setting the helmet on top of the trunk and glaring at her.

"Ten more minutes."

"Five."

"Ten."

"Blue!"

I chuckled once more. Aggravating the reporter was one of my favorite hobbies.

"Alright Blue, I'll sweeten the deal. You stop working on the power armor right now and-"

"This better be a sweet deal."

"It will be! Anyways, and then, you can spend those extra ten minutes with me."

"Wouldn't I be spending them with you anyways?" I asked with a small smile.

"Possibly, but would you get them with me alone?"

I liked the sound of that. my heart thumped rapidly in my chest, trying to rip through the fabric of my jumpsuit. I swear she could probably see my heart thudding against the interwoven fibers. I kept my face straight though, and forced my cheeks to submit, before coming back at her.

"Depends on where we're alone, bedroom or elsewhere?"

I'd gotten her with that one. I saw her cheeks flush as red as her trenchcoat and her emerald orbs dart to my own murky brown eyes. She shrunk into herself, making her shorter than she already was.

"P-Percy! You can't let anyone else hear you talk like that!" she whispered at me with ferocity in her breaths.

I smiled and winked at her, her cheeks becoming redder now than the truck stop outside. She grunted, forcing the redness in her cheeks away and stepping fully into the metal confines of the shack. She close the door behind her and grabbed the lever beside her, pulling down and shutting off the light source in the room, slivers of moonlight peering through the rusted roof of the shack being the only light left, but it was enough to see by.

I was a bit shocked but I refused to let her see that as she stomped up to me, pushed me backwards until my back collided with metal, and then grabbed the back of my neck, pulling my lips down to hers.

I refused to lose to her, so I grasped her hips with my hands and easily lifted her to my height, pulling her closely as her feet left the ground. She squeaked into the kiss and wrapped her arms around my neck tighter, her legs flying around my waist.

"Blue! Bad!"

I chuckled before turning her back to the wall and initiating another kiss. We were neck to neck, chest to chest, lips to lips. We were heated, molten, melting into one another. I felt the frustration and tension in her shoulders fall out of her posture as we were lost in each other.

When one of us finally broke the kiss I looked down at my Pip-Boy.

"We have some impeccable timing, it's been 9 minutes."

"Damn, there was one more minute we could've used."

I snickered at this and let her down from my waist, her fingers weaving apart and her legs releasing from their vice on my hips. I set her down and let her fix her scarf and hair, grabbing her hat from the ground where it had fallen off. She fixed it on her head and smiled her trademark smile, looking away from my face as she spoke.

"We should probably get back."

"You're probably right, any longer and they'll know something's up. you go out first, I'll follow in a minute."

"Don't you dare fix that helmet."

I raised my hands in defence as she left, leaving a smile plastered to my face.

I picked up the helmet when the door closed and looked at it.

"I'll be back for you." I said, setting the helmet down and walking out the door.

That was eight years ago. I had recently turned 40, or 254, it depends on how you look at it. Piper was younger than me, her 39th birthday six months ago. It was good that I was aging, being able to settle down a bit more. People rarely recognized me as the Sole Survivor anymore, I was glad too. Nick Valentine and Preston, the Railroad and the Minutemen, were the only others that knew very well my identity. All of this was amazing, but what was even more amazing was…

"Mom!" came a small, high pitched voice from the garden outside.

I stood from my chair out front, walking around the building and looking at my beautiful daughter. It was a miracle that we were able to have a child through a process that I can not go into a lot of detail about before confusing myself. In its basics, some of my DNA, and some of Piper's was taken and used to create valid gametes for reproduction. They were then combined and left to fertilize in a sterile environment. In nine months we were asked to return to the facility. We arrived and received a child, simple as that. She had Piper's jewel colored eyes, and now that she was six, I was realizing she had my ambition. I only hoped that she wouldn't grow up to be like me.

"What is it sweetie?"

"Look what we and aunt Natalie made!" she exclaimed, showing me a pile of dirt in front of her. It was tightly packed together and hollowed in some places. It slightly resembled our home.

"Is it our house?" I asked.

She beamed with pride when I said that, seeing as I'd known what it was.

"Man, she definitely is a builder, all I did was go grab dirt!" said the grown up Nat.

It was strange seeing how similar to Piper she looked when she was younger, almost scary looking. Nat wore her hair even shorter than Piper did, and had brown eyes instead of greens, but their faces were nearly identical. I mouthed a thanks to her to which she nodded and smiled.

Quinsley giggled, "Oh come on Auntie Nat, you did more than that!"

"I refuse to believe I did."

I watched them bicker back and forth playfully and chuckled, wishing Piper were back from Diamond City to see this. She was making a supply run for our house, though I continue to tell her to just take some from Sanctuary, she refuses to do that to Sturges, Nick, Nat, and Preston.

"Mom?" came Quinsley's tiny voice.

"Mmm?" I responded.

"Can I go to Aunt Nat's?"

"You sure can." I said cheerily.

"Yay!" came both their voices simultaneously.

I laughed at Nat's playfulness and watched them walk all the way to the bridge before turning to tend to the melons.

"Seems to be growing well…"


	2. Mischief in the Making

I had just recently turned 18, my mothers still thought I was a child though. I mean, I understand that I am their child, but I don't want to be treated like one. At least Aunt Nat understood that much. Don't get me wrong, I love my moms, but I prefer Nat's playfulness when I'm itching for some fun. Here in the wastes, fun wasn't hard to come by if you had my since of humor, or adventure. Speaking of adventures, today we were heading farther to the southeast than we'd ever gone before. I'd heard of legends of the Sole Survivor, traveling across all of the commonwealth. North, South, East, West; miles, meters, feet, yards, inches. She didn't care at all. They say she lead the minutemen from a castle in the southeast, and today I was going to find it. I'd become great friends with the former general of the current general of the minutemen, Preston Garvey. He always talked of how he was ill suited to lead the minutemen and was better suited for following orders of the sole survivor.

Everyone always called her that, Sole Survivor. I asked for a name but everyone said she'd rather no one knew nowadays. She was awesome, mysterious, and adventurous. I wanted to grow up to be like her, I just wish my Mom would understand that, she's so terrified of me doing things that the sole survivor would have. But thanks to Aunt Nat I usually get what I want.

"You ready to take a rest kiddo?" came the voice of my aunt behind me.

"Nah, I can keep going for a few more miles."

"Well, alright, as long as you're sure."

I was always sure. I usually stopped walking for Nat nowadays. She was getting older, a few years from thirty now. And the commonwealth had taken its toll on her. I could see her aches and pains through her smiles, the small pauses when she'd go to sit down. She seemed to age quickly. I probably shouldn't be pushing her, but I really needed to see this castle.

I was grabbed from behind and thrown to the ground before the weight of another human was above me.

I was looking into Nat's face, her finger over her lips. I nodded timidly and listened for whatever had caused such a reaction.

"Oh yeah, you should've seen the look on the kid's face!" came the rough and raw voice of a man, followed by several vollies of laughter.

"Henrick you tell the best stories! Any other ones?" asked a female in the small group, no more than four by the sounds of the laughter.

"Well… There was this one time…"

 _Snap_

My back was on top of a branch, which had just broken from a shift of my weight. I closed my eyes and winced, as did Nat.

"What was that?"

"I don't know. Sounds like dinner." came the voice I'd come to know as Henrick.

Another chuckle from the rest of the group as one of them got up to look around. I felt Nat move her arm down my right side, grabbing the pistol strapped to my thigh. She rolled slowly off of me and carefully cocked the slide on the gun, letting it fall back forward with only a soft click. I too reached over my back to grab a weapon, my fingers brushing the tended leather handle of my mother's old serrated machete. I slid it out of its sheathe slowly and silently, bringing it to my chest and rolling over. The raider was so close now I could hear his breath and smell the stench of old blood on him. If he only looked down into this ditch then this scenic adventure could turn into a firefight. I saw the end of his crudely made pipe rifle peek over the top of the incline and then his grimy, stained hands. I looked right and saw Nat, pistol aimed uphill at the raider before turning back to the man. I saw his head peek over the edge, a small hooded sack covering his face and one eye. I saw the one eye that was open widen in surprise as he brought the gun to aim at me. I winced and heard a gunshot go off. Good, if I heard the shot, I was still alive. I looked up and watched the man fall forward, a fresh, red hole in the sack hood over his head.

"What the fuck?!" was the first thing I heard after the gunshot, followed by a large thump.

I sheathed my machete and reached around my right side, pulling on the laser rifle and its strap, swinging it into my arms. I stood from the ditch and leveled the barrel at one of the raiders.

 _Alright Quinn, breathe, and… Squeeze_

The gun went off in my hands and struck a raider in the chest, sending the man flying back into a nearby trailer before he fell to the ground, motionless.

Nat fired off a few of my 10mm rounds and struck both raiders, one in the gut and the others thigh. I took this opportunity to readjust my aim and fire, striking the raider who'd been gutshotted. She too fell to the ground, lifeless. Nat finished the last one off with a well placed headshot ash he was hobbling away. Now was time for the dirty work. I scrambled out of the ditch and then reached down to help Nat up, she took my hand and I pulled her weight upwards as she hefted herself up the embankment.

I went to the nearest raider, the one collapsed atop the small knoll in which we'd taken cover behind. I went about the process of searching for any ammo, meds, bottlecaps. I came out with three bottlecaps and some .308s. I moved on to the next, rolling the female raider onto her stomach and searching her pockets and bags. I picked up her 10mm pistol that was gripped in her hand and ejected the magazine, tossing it in the pack around my waist. All else I could produce were two bottlecaps and a stimpak. Aunt Nat handed me a small canister of jet. I looked down at her hand and back up to her face, eyeing her curiously.

"Don't tell your mother" she paused, "either of them."

I squinted at her suspiciously and grabbed the red inhaler, slipping it into my pack. She sighed and handed me back my pistol.

"Thanks."

"No problem, seeing as I used it to save your life and all."

I chuckled a bit and shook my head, holstering the refurbished metal gun in my thigh holster before slinging my laser rifle over my shoulder where it was neatly seated moments ago.

"What do you think these guys were doing out here?" I asked my aunt.

"Well sweetie I'm not sure there really is a reason to anything they do."

"I asked you not to call me that."

"Right, right, sorry _Quinn_." she said mockingly, chuckling at herself and turning to face the way we were walking before.

I rolled my eyes and smiled, walking after her on the cracked pavement scattered with pre war cars and faded yellow paint. They say the sole survivor was alive before the war, before the bombs dropped. Amazing to think of it, I didn't know how long ago exactly the bombs dropped but long enough for the radiation around the area to have...adverse effects. I'd never been to the glowing sea, but Mom says she once went, in full power armor of course. Mother was a collector, a collector of many things, but mostly power armor. She had almost 16 sets now, and I always brought back fusion cores and exos or armor that I found in my adventures. I always carried a few spare fusion cores with me just in case.

Breaking from my thoughts I gazed into the beaming sun of the summer and the grasses that had managed to grow up through the cracks in the road. It was a nice day to go hunting, or Brahmin tipping. Man that's a classic. There are times Mom would show me games I didn't know existed. Some for example like, Truth or Dare, Hide and Seek, Spin the Bottle. All of these were so much fun to learn, but they weren't very active. I liked to run, climb, jump, vault. Thanks to this I was in fairly good shape if I do say so myself.

I was suddenly hit by the distinct smell of tainted water. It was somewhere nearby, a lake or river perhaps. The metallic lilt to the smell of the water was a smell my nose was accustomed to, and by now, after living near a river full of it for so long, I almost enjoyed it. It reminded me of home. I felt the ground below my feet start to incline, my boots gripping the pavement and pushing upwards with every slow step up the hill. I got to the top of the hill and waited for Nat, I pulling ahead of her n out march up the hill. I gave her the onceover before making a decision.

"I think I need a rest Nat."

"You sure Quinn? Not gonna keep going?" she asked with a quick exhale.

"Yeah I'm sure, this is far enough for now, we'll rest up a bit, maybe gain a bit more ground before sunset."

"Well you just have this all figured out don't you?"

"I try."

We both shared a laugh before sitting on the roadside.

"You did good back there, as always." said Aunt Nat with a smirk.

"Well, this isn't my first rodeo."

"I'm very aware of that."

I sighed, leaning until I fell backwards, colliding with the ground. I looked up towards the sun that was just now starting to scrape the treetops. We probably wouldn't be making anymore ground before sunset. There was the one hour it would take to rest, then all we would have was two hours of sunlight left which would give us enough time to set up camp, clear a firepit, secure a perimeter, and cook some dinner. By that time the fire would be the only light to see by.

I stood and brandished the serrated and well worn blade of my machete, moving to a nearby tree. It was less of a tree and more of a scraggly branch planted into the ground. I hacked the small twigs off of the greyed and deadened tree, gathering up the bits for kindling. I then began to hack away at some of the thicker branches, taking them all and setting them to the side to throw on early. Then I began sawing at the base of the tree itself. It couldn't have been wider around than my calves, but it was about 7 foot tall. If I hacked it up it would make some really pretty good firewood for the blaze, a good sized fire would come out of this, though not a long one. I returned and set down my findings before finding a thicker tree, this one would definitely work for some logs, three or four at least.

I went to the tedious work of sawing down a thicker tree. The serrated blade would need to be sharpened when I got back home, but right now, it was the best I had. Back and forth and back and forth I rocked the blade, moving quicker than I'd thought I would through what I'd identified to be a maple tree. Not long and the fairly sized lumber had fallen to the ground to be claimed. I went back to sawing out a nice chunk of wood. I kept up my continuous pattern of sawing, humming the tune of the last song I'd heard on the radio. About half way through chopping my second log I heard a very distinct, shrill, earsplitting sound. A scream.

I snapped up, turning in the direction of the noise. The scream was muffled almost as soon as it began, so I didn't have much time to hear which way it came from. I sheathed my machete and jogged back to the camp, which was obscured by a few branches and trees in between us. Nearing the area where I could see the camp I began to hear muffled sounds of struggling. I stopped dead in my tracks. I'd never really fought anything on my own. I always had a partner of some sorts. Even in training whilst in a 1 on 1 fight I had guidance. Now I was alone. I reached for the laser rifle and slipped it into my grip, flicking the switch on the side. I stalked through the dry grass, avoiding limbs as I snaked towards our makeshift encampment. I peeked around a large oak tree, seeing Nat, a furious look in her eyes and a Raider's hand over her mouth. She was being held from behind, one of her arms shoved up her back to keep her from moving. There were two more around her and some others that I could hear but not see. They must have seen or heard us take out those guys earlier.

I readied my weapon and aimed it at the man holding Nat, the gunner's sights lined up with his helmeted head. I breathed, and breathed, and breathed. I let my heart stop racing to make this shot count. I felt my finger tense on the trigger at the exact moment I too was grabbed from behind. I dropped the gun and reached up to the arm around my mouth, trying to pull it off.

"There you are you little bitch. You two are the ones that killed my brother back there!" he said with his raspy, liquor tainted breath.

I almost gagged at the smell of his breath combined with the smell of his arm. I mustered up the courage, and the stomach, to bite down on his forearm. I felt the flesh in between my teeth but I bit harder still, his cries not deterring me before I felt the meat of his arm tear free from the bone. The blood covered my lips and cheeks as the vessels popped, sending a splatter of blood from the arm. I spit out the chunk and pushed away from him as he writhed in pain. I snathced out my pistol and went to aim but I was again seized by foreign hands.

"Hey there girly, you'll be coming with us." said this man.

He reeked even worse than the other. My eyes stung and I felt dirty just from the proximity to him. My drifters clothes would definitely need a good scrubbing when we got home. I slung the pistol up to bash it into his face but he simply grabbed it and yanked it out of my hands. I was panicking now, and I could hear Nat in the background of all this attempting to break loose. I went into survival instincts and bashed the back of my head into his nose, using the moment of distraction to turn and knee him in the crotch. He fell to the ground too.

"Come on bitches, who's next!" i yelled, trying to encourage myself more than intimidate the others.

I kicked the raider I had recently felled in the gut before spitting on him and firing a round into his head. Fucking hated raiders. I quickly turned to face the other three raiders in sight. I scowled and raised my gun once more. I fired a round at the three. They all rolled out of the way. I felt a sharp prick in my neck and winced, turning and swinging my gun like a club. The man behind me slide-stepped back and dropped the hypodermic needle in his hand.

I sneered at his chuckles before he became two people, splitting into two seperate identical versions of himself. I felt the sweat buildup on my forehead double, my body temperature feeling almost like a furnace. My vision began to swirl and cloud together. I tried to raise the gun to bare but my arms were getting heavier by the second. I let the gun slip from my grip and fell over from the amount of weight my body seemed to hold. The last thing I saw before passing out from the pressure in my skull was one of the raiders standing over me, a frown on his face.


	3. Angel in Disguise

My head hurt, my eyes hurt, my neck hurt, my back hurt. It would be quicker to name what didn't hurt, it would be a one word list. Nothing.

I forced my eyes open, feeling as if they had been stapled shut. My surroundings were blurry at first, but soon enough I could see the true horror of my situation. I was surrounded on all sides by walls made of spare scrap and tin plates, strapped to a single chair in the middle of the shack. I was the only feature in the otherwise barren room, my drifter's coat was gone, stripped down to my grimy, once white t shirt, and my underclothes. I refused to breathe through my nose after one whiff. Seems the raiders' camps reeked worse than they did. I opened my mouth to call out for someone, but my voice couldn't make it out of my throat. All I could manage was a weak, rusted 'help'. I coughed at the dryness of my own throat. I tried to swallow some of my own saliva but it didn't seem to help.

My throat tasted like copper and felt like sandpaper, my tongue feeling shriveled up in my mouth. I croaked out another plea for help but of course, nothing came of it. It was nearly half an hour later when I heard the door creak open behind me.

"Hey girly, you're awake." came the slimy voice of one of the raiders.

I refused to speak, not like I could if I wanted to. He laughed at my unresponsive state.

"I know we got off to a rough start" he continued, walking over to my front, "but why don't we just start over huh? Get to know each other a bit?"

He came disgustingly close to my face. Though this one's breath wasn't as bad, I acted as if it had killed my cat.

"Aw, don't be like that." he said, grabbing my lower jaw and making me face him.

I cringed at the feeling of his gritty, calloused, and greasy fingers against my skin, his hand stained and rough from who knows what kind of substance. The welding goggles over his eyes were cracked and smudged with oil. I averted my eyes from his face, just as quickly as I'd been forced to look at it.

"Oh come on, just let me get a little taste of you."

I was freaking out inside, he was forcing me to look at him, inching his face nearer. I acted on instinct and felt my forehead collide with his nose, a sharp crunch coming from the sensitive cartilage. He reeled back, spatting curses and insults while holding his nose. I was visibly shaking, my forehead didn't hurt as much as I'd expected, but I was mentally scarred forever.

"You little bitch! You broke my nose!" he yelled.

I recoiled from his voice, huddling into my own shoulder, my arms bound to my sides by the barrel rope.

"You're gonna pay for that one!" he said.

I clamped my eyes shut and gave a soft whimper, expecting the feeling of a fist across my face or something of the sorts. What I got was much more terrifying. The pencil stick of a man grabbed my jaw much more forcefully this time and made me face him once more. My eyes shot open, wider than they'd ever been. He slapped me, hard. I could feel the exact imprint of his hand on my cheek. I whimpered again before he let go of my head. I lowered my head to my chest and looked up at him, trying to see if I needed to prepare for a strike. I saw him fumbling with the leather strap that held up his pants, yanking it free from his waist. He tossed it aside and grabbed my jaw with one hand, tears I hadn't known were there flying from my cheeks as my head was yanked upwards. He was fumbling with his waistband now, and I, wearing nothing decent but a T-shirt, was terrified. I closed my eyes and let out a croaking sob.

The door behind me opened.

"Hey!" came another voice, it sounded like more of a teenagers voice, deep, but not grovelly.

I allowed myself to open my eyes, the pain in my body near unbearable from the rough treatment I'd just received. I saw the raider that was near on top of me look up angrily.

"What do you want kid?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"You know what the boss said, she ain't for you." he said.

The raider above me scowled, a stream of blood I hadn't yet noticed pouring from his nose.

"Fine." he said with obvious displeasure.

He basically threw my head when he let go, the force just strong enough to topple me over backwards. I landed on my back, unable to prevent my fall, I let out a moan of pain as all of my muscles cried out in retaliation of my sudden change in position. I looked up at the door, the raider standing in the entrance was bigger than the other raider, but he was obviously younger due to the raider's condescending name for the 'kid'. He glared at the other man as he walked out, exchanging the same death glance while the skinnier man replaced his belt on the way out.

The young raider closed the door and I began to panic again. Sure he saved me from the other man but what if I wasn't for him because I was instead for _him._ My head was planting every single one of these terrible situations in my head, so of course when he walked over to the head of my chair and reached down to my head I flinched away and forced out a single word.

"Please." was all I could mutter.

His hands paused before they could reach me, only for a moment, before he reached past my short, messy hair and grabbed the head of the metal chair and stood it upright again. He looked into my eyes and I looked away, trying to knock some of my matted hair in front of my face to shield me from this _raider_ that had… helped me?

"Do you need anything?"

I was shocked by the voice, so much so that my eyes widened and I tensed up a bit in my chair. I looked through the strands of hair that covered my face at his face. He was searching me, looking for something.

I forced something out of my throat that was slowly becoming more like a throat and less like a roll of paper towels.

"My aunt… My hat…" I muttered.

Some would think it hilarious that I'd think of my hat at a time like this, but it was the first memory I had, my mother giving me her 'lucky hat'. The only two things here that I refused to leave without were my aunt and my hat.

He chuckled a bit, "I can't do anything about getting you your aunt, but I can see if I can sneak your hat in here."

I was surprised at this raiders amount of kindness. He gave me a wink before walking out the door that left me surprisingly comforted. I leaned back in my chair and fell back to sleep.

I woke back up to the sound of a familiar voice, the kind raider from earlier. I opened my eyes again, and this time my throat had regressed back to its original state. I moaned in frustration and pain, though it came out more as a growl. As soon as my eyes began to process what was round them, the raider was holding my hat and a carton of water. It was of course dirty water but I'd take whatever I could get right now. I cracked my lips needingly, the skin on my lower lip splitting in two. He tilted the carton to my lips and I savored the feeling of water flowing over my tongue and down my throat, I even appreciated the taste of mercury it left in my mouth.

He smacked the hat on top of my head. It actually hurt, as if there was some sort of metal in it. I winced and was about to question him before his finger met my lips. He had his other hand up to his own mouth, signaling me to be quiet. He gave me his trademark wink and left the room again. I was confused by this raider, through and through. All raiders were just scumbags, but this one seemed… different. He was unmistakably a raider from his clothing to his comrades but he was definitely a different type of raider.

I leaned my head over to my right, reaching up with my arm that was very luckily bound by the bicep and not by my wrists behind me. I reached up and threw my hat to the ground, trying to see what had hit my head. The press cap flew to the ground alongside two other items. A piece of paper. And a knife. My eyes widened at the sight of the silver switchblade, a glint of hope in my eye.

I shook my chair back and forth until I toppled over, my legs really of no help since my ankles were bound to the legs. The rope bore into my arms for a moment. It hurt a bit, the skin raw, but I didn't much notice, nor care. I grabbed the knife in my teeth and tossed it as close as I could to my hands. I hopped across the ground until I could reach the knife. From there I simply rotated the knife in my hands and began sawing at the ropes. Through minutes of tedious work I set myself free. I reached down and untied my feet, scrambling up and stooping to pick up the small sheet of paper. I turned it over in my hands, some scribbled writing on the back.

'two doors left, four doors right'

Was written on the page. I tossed the paper aside, grabbed my hat, and opened the door a bit quicker than I should have. I winced but realized no one was present in the small, makeshift hallway. I took the first directions of the page and went two doors left. I opened the door, quietly this time, and found a single raider, counting bottlecaps from what seemed to be a stockpile of mine and Nat's stuff. I flipped the switchblade over in my hands and approached him from behind. I sprung upwards and shoved the knife in between his two shoulder blades.

The body made a soft thud as he landed. Instant paralysis. I closed the door behind me and reached for my dufflebag. I tossed it to the floor and replaced my pants and coat, fitting my hat back onto my head. I armed myself, then threw all of Nat's weapons in her dufflebag. I threw both green sacks over my shoulders and went six doors to my right, machete out. I opened the door and nearly screamed when I was yanked inside and the door behind me slammed shut. My immediate thought was raider so I spun and had the offender against the wall with a serrated blade to his throat. I was right about his being a raider, but this one, I didn't want to kill strangely enough. He lifted his hands up in surrender with a smile.

I huffed in his direction and turned to face an unconscious Nat. I frowned. There was no way I could carry her, her stuff, and my stuff. She was unclothed as I was, I had already gathered her outfit and tossed it in the bag, which combined with mine made for a hell of a load.

"I'll get her, you just keep them out of our way." came the voice from the corner.

I turned to face the smug raider, a lopsided grin on his face, his arms crossed across his chest.

"Excuse me?" I asked, confused by his eagerness to help.

"Hand me my knife, I'll get her out and we can get going."

I didn't trust him, not yet, but I had little to no option. I held the knife out at him, approaching him with the blade. He once again held his hands up in surrender.

"One scratch on her and you're dead."

"Understood ma'am." he said with the same smugness he always seemed to emit.

I squinted at him and flipped the knife in my palm, holding the handle to him. He grasped the metal handle and went about cutting her free. When he was done, he threw the still unconscious Nat over his shoulder and gave me a nod. I sighed and opened the door. I walked into the hallway and motioned him to follow. He pointed directions to me with short grunts, and eventually we came to a door in which was illuminated from the outside.

"There are gonna be a lot of them outside, you're gonna have to use these." he said, holding out two stealth boys.

Jeez this guy thought of everything. I took them without question and let him set the groggy, awakening Nat on the floor.

"W-what, what's going-" I cut her short with my hand and handed her the stealth boy.

She was immediately awake, her eyes alert and focused, she had a way of doing things like this.

"Just follow me." said the raider.

Nat looked at me curiously and I just shrugged, I couldn't explain why he was helping us right now, and I don't really think I could explain it ever. I flipped open the top of my stealth boy and pressed the small red button, watching my own arms become invisible, as well as Nat entirely. The raider huffed and opened the door.

Outside, he wasn't kidding when he said there would be more of them. I walked out after him and looked back, turns out the roof of the hallways we were in was made of another, larger building. I stared in awe at the amount of structures and raiders that they housed. I followed the man step for step as he escorted us to what I hoped was the exit. We walked around the center of the camp, avoiding the most amount of raiders. I could see the gate when we were stopped.

"OI! Damian!" came a grovelly voice.

The raider in front of us turned to face the voice that had come from the right. A drunk raider came sprinting from an alleyway between the houses. He stopped right in front of us and began talking to 'Damian'. I wasn't listening, but eyeing the gate.

I looked up at Damian, who had a finger behind his back, pointed at the gate. I got the message and sprinted for the exit, running through the open chain link fences and dove behind the embankment on the other side of the road. My stealth boy went out a few seconds later. About 20 feet away was Nat, her stealth boy going out about a second after mine. I crawled my way over to her and peeked over the top of the embankment. I locked eyes with Damian, whos company was walking off. He placed his hands behind his head and began walking towards the gate. He strolled out and started smiling.

"The prisoners, they're gone!" came the voice of a frantic raider who'd run out of the hallways beneath the grand building.

I slid Nat's bag off my back and handed it to her absentmindedly while I watched Damian walk towards us. I sunk back below the embankment and waited for him. He came sliding down the small incline a few seconds later.

"I hope you ladies enjoyed your stay, but right now, we gotta go." he said with another trademark smile.

Nat finished pulling on her gloves and holstered her weapons before she stood with me and Damian, nodding.

"Follow me, I know a way to get to the Castle from here, the minutemen should help you."

My eyes lit up at those words, my main objective going to be completed on complete and total luck. I glanced at Nat, who seemed just as excited as I was, if not an undertone of suspicion, though I could care less. I felt I could trust Damian, even if only a little bit.


	4. The Castle

I felt the texture of the ground noticeably change beneath my feet. The cracked pavement change to the soft dirt on the outsides of the huge stone walls, broken as they may be.

"So this is the legendary Castle…" I said, drifting into my thoughts as I spoke.

I was unable to put together much more. It was a huge, fortress of a place, covered in minutemen flags and surrounded by the sound of Music and Radio Freedom announcements. A hole in the wall, covered by walls of scrap metal and wood. A minuteman stood guard at the top of the wall, looking down upon us. He seemed to eye Damian suspiciously before raising a hand.

"That's far enough. what are your intentions?" asked the broad shouldered man clad in classic minutemen attire.

"I seek to send a transmission to sanctuary. To the former General." I yelled up to him.

"Very well, come in." he said.

I was rather surprised by the leniency of the minutemen. I walked forward and pushed open the door leading inside. Inside was a large courtyard, spanning about 40 my thoughts of leniency were quickly thrown out the window, looking at the massive amount of interior guards and turrets. I looked to my right and met the face of another guard.

"Welcome to the castle, the radio is in the center there, need to send a message then that's where you want to go."

"Thank you sir." I responded gratefully.

I walked up to the man working the radio, tapping him lightly on the shoulder.

"Mmm? Oh hello ma'am, what can I do you for?" said the man, a heavy southern undertone to his voice.

"Oh, I would like to send a message to sanctuary. To General Garvey."

"Ah, the old General's still kicking huh? What'ld you like to say?"

"Just tell him that Quinn is ok, and she'll be on her way home soon."

"You know 'im?"

"Yes, I'm a friend's daughter." I was getting a bit annoyed with all of the unnecessary questions, but I would still be polite.

"Hmm, Sole Survivor? She was a great friend of Preston's."

"Ha, I wish. Just Percy Cost." I said with a lopsided grin.

He didn't respond to that, his eyes just seemed to light up and he turned around with a low chuckle.

"Sanctuary, this is The Castle, Sanctuary, come in Sanctuary. Yeah…" he began before I could walk off.

Turning on my heel and walking towards one of the openings in the walls of the castle, leading to many of the castle's rooms. I looked and found Nat, who was waiting for me, but did not spot Damian. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure he actually even came in with us. I brushed it off, as he was a raider.

I approached Nat and spoke, "Whenever you're ready to go, we're out."

"Alright, let's take off at first light."

"Sounds good, sun's going down soon so you should get some rest."

"Hey now kid, don't forget yourself alright?" she said with a chuckle.

I just chuckled and walked off, navigating the single corridor on the inside of the Castle's stone wall. I found one room lined with sleeping bags, only some of which seemed occupied so I took the first one on the right and settled in quite early and waited for sleep. Oddly enough I couldn't get the thought of Damian from my mind.

I was awoken at the first sight of the day's light, Nat chirping over my bed to wake me up.

"Hey, Quinn, Quinn, Quinsley, Quiiiiiiin."

"I'm up, I'm up." I said, brushing away her hands that were attempting to shake me awake.

"We have a long walk ahead of us kiddo, we better get a move on."

I groaned and sat up, my wrists still a bit sore from the rope burn. I rubbed the annoyance away and got dressed. It was sad to leave so soon, but now that we knew exactly where it was we could get here a whole lot quicker. I remembered what I'd forgotten to do and quickly pulled out my map, sketching a small cannon on the peninsula in which the castle sat. I smiled to myself and replaced the map in my bag before hefting it onto my shoulder and walking out of the door, half of the minutemen already milling about the courtyard.

I waved a goodbye to the southern accented boy at the radio. He waved back in return and me and my aunt walked out through the gates, ready for the trek to come.

A few days passed and we were home again, the crumbling streets of Concord and the flaking paint of the musuem of freedom welcomed us back. I could see the large red rocket towering over the place I called home. I let out a small chuckle at the sight of it and grabbed Nat's hands in my own, pulling her along with me.

"Come on Nat, I'll race ya." I teased.

She chuckled and waved me on, "I ain't the woman I used to be, I'd race you if we hadn't walked from Cambridge Station to get here. You go on ahead, your moms are probably waiting for you."

I laughed and my smile widened as I bus up the hill. Mama was on the side of the building, tending to the tato garden, Mom was in the garage, I could hear her welder sending sparks showering down to the floor. I dropped my pack on the ground with a thump and ran up behind Mama, throwing my arms around her neck. She gave a surprised squeal and nearly fell over but then realized who it was, taking in a breath and turning around to hug me back.

"It took you long enough to get back here!" she said, planting one of her big, wet, smooches on my forehead.

I couldn't help but chuckle before squeezing her once more and taking off through the door to greet Mom. As I was rounding the corner into the garage I was wrapped up in someone's arms and spun around the garage. I was laughing and squealing, telling Mom to put me down, she didn't listen. I hated being treated like a baby but after not seeing them for a whole week I would accept such treatment. She let me down just enough to place a kiss on my forehead in a similar fashion to Mama.

I chuckled and took in a deep breath, brushing a strand of hair from my face, "Whatcha working on?" I asked, eyeing her oil stained hands.

"Oh this? Nothing, just been fixing up another suit, the question is, what have you been doing?"

I couldn't really tell her that, but I could tell her a bit of it, "We went all the way to the Castle Mom! It was amazing, all the minutemen, how did the Sole Survivor do it? And Preston? It's just… wow."

Mom chuckled, wiping the last visible bit of grease from her palm before speaking, "I'm not sure honey, but it does sound amazing. Tell me about it, any trouble?"

Oh god if she knew I would never leave the house again, "Nothing major, just a few raiders that we had to off on the way there."

"Good, good. Well, it is starting to get a bit later in the evening, you can tell me everything tomorrow."

That sounded good. I nodded and hugged Mom once more, as she yawned, moving out of the way for me to see the new, polished X-01 suit sitting on the power armor station. God Mom has a problem.I chuckled to myself and bounced out of the front window of what used to be a gas station according to Mom, all before going into my own private one room building with all my stuff.

I stripped myself of my coat and pants, threw off my t-shirt, tossed my bag in the corner, and collapsed onto the bed as the sun began to fall below the horizon, I was gonna sleep late tomorrow.


End file.
